I was born in North Dakota and like almost every child growing up in “The Prairie Rose” State I have seen for myself the ruts in the prairie running for many miles where wild buffalo used to roam. From our current vantage point in history, we are disgusted with the stories of the willful slaughter […]
Patrimonialism is a form of governance in which all power flows from the ruler or the top of an organization to the bottom. The sovereign-ruler-ruling class controls individual liberty. The line between public and private domains is blurred and the oligarchic and autocratic power brokers exclude “WE THE PEOPLE”—all classes of people, from power. We […]
Several times this week while listening to political pundits on both sides of the spectrum the word “Extremism” or “EXTREMIST” has been used. The Big question for me is who decides what is extreme? King George certainly felt that the Colonial American Patriots were extreme. Members of the Jewish religious hierarchy certainly felt that Jesus […]
Many in today’s elite political ruling class—both parties, try to create a narrative and an illusion that there are great obstacles to our security and liberty that only they can protect. To be sure there are real problems that need to be confronted, but what they present to us are merely meant to outrage the […]
I have spent the last week getting “pre-oped” before I undergo bilateral hip replacements at St. Luke’s. The nurses, doctors, and technicians who have taken care of me have been magnificent—as they have always been. My criticism of Luke’s has always been about its management and the Board of Directors who remain, according to many […]
This week I was privileged to be part of an impromptu discussion over morning coffee that included two legislators and several educators. I opined that the educational hierarchy and establishment have lost their perspective regarding the purpose, focus, and breadth of what education should be all about. I believe that people like Danial Webster, William […]
The conservative Catholic Bishop from Tyler Texas Fr. Joseph Strickland, an outspoken critic of the current Pope was removed last week from his ecclesiastical responsibilities by Pope Francis. According to the National Catholic Reporter, Strickland’s use of social media, his anti-vaccine message during the Covid-19 pseudo faux pandemic, his calling out of President Joe Biden […]
So much of the news and what we hear and see in the print and electronic media is “noise”. The experts in the ruling and financial elite classes want us to believe in existential threats like Y2K, Global warming, Covid-19 mitigation strategies promulgated from the CDC and NIH, Russian interference in elections, The Humanitarian Crises […]
The Tip of the Iceberg The Idaho Health Information Exchange bankruptcy and the subsequent coverup by The Department of Health and Welfare and at the highest levels in the executive branch of Idaho government is a disgrace, but also is a metaphor about the power of influential lobbyists and corporations in our State that continue […]
Over the past four days on the award-winning Kevin Miller show on 580 AM on the radio—most recently the recipient of the coveted, well-known but little-described Livingston Award For Broadcast excellence, several call-in gentlemen have been less than kind in my opinion to other callers who profess without shame their Christian Faith. I was probably […]
When political narratives are void of a moral context, and when arguments are made in support or against a person or an individual based not on logic but on race, ethnicity or religious affiliation, the diagnosis and the therapeutic antidote are oftentimes lost in the process. Ambiguity and moral equivalency are the mother’s milk of […]
I grew up loving and playing baseball and football. When I became a father, I shared that love with my three boys. In the summer there was never an evening that didn’t end with ESPN and SportsCenter. WE played baseball in the side yard from March until November. Football in Ohio was our “State Religion”. […]